In a large saute pan, brown your ground beef over medium high heat. Use the back of your spoon to break the beef up.
While it’s browning add your dried minced onions, garlic powder and also add some salt and pepper to taste.

Once the beef is fully browned, add your diced tomatoes, diced green chiles, tomato sauce, chicken broth, taco seasoning, black beans in their juice and frozen corn. Mix well and bring to this to a boil.
Once it’s boiling, stir in your box of Barilla Pronto Penne Pasta and cover. DO NOT TURN YOUR HEAT DOWN, leave it at medium high.
Cook covered for 8 minutes, stirring once in a while.
Once you’re at the 8 minute mark, stir in 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and then sprinkle the remaining cup of cheddar cheese over the top.
Cover the pasta again and cook for 2 more minutes.
Sprinkle with green onions and crumbled tortilla chips and enjoy! #mexicanfood#homemade#yummy

Taco Tuesday is my favorite dinner night of the week! (Not that I won’t eat tacos on other days; I’m not crazy!) Here’s what’s on the menu for tonight: oven-baked tacos, Mexican rice, and refried beans. I’m hungry already! Here are the recipes:

Oven-Baked Tacos (couldn’t get much easier…I use those shells with the flat bottoms)

Brown your ground beef and drain completely, then add refried beans, taco seasoning and about half a can of tomato sauce. Mix together and scoop into taco shells, (stand them up in a casserole dish). Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

In a small sauce pan combine the refried beans, sour cream, and hot sauce over medium-low heat. Stir constantly and when the beans are heated through (don’t bring it to boiling) remove from heat and pour into a glass pie pan or 9×9 dish.

Top with grated cheese and heat in the oven or microwave until cheese is melted.

Today I’m making two big batches of soup. We’ll have some for supper, then the rest will be frozen in individual servings for later. I love soup any time of year. Tonight I’m making White Bean, Kale, & Carrot and Veggie Corn Chowder. I’ll also make a pan of cornbread because…well…cornbread!

In a stock/soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add garlic and onion; saute until soft.
Stir in broth, carrots, beans, seasonings, garlic and onion.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until carrots are almost tender, stirring occasionally.
Add kale; cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until kale is done, stirring occasionally.

Here’s the recipe for Veggie Corn Chowder (from 100 Days of Read Food)

1. In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep whisking until the mixture darkens but does not burn, 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and stir occasionally until the veggies begin to soften, 5-6 minutes.
3. Add the corn, salt, and pepper to the pot and cook, stirring, for another 2 or 3 minutes. (If using frozen corn, add a minute to the cooking time.)
4. Pour in the chicken stock and milk and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until thickened.
5. Partially puree the soup by transferring only half to a countertop blender, then returning the puree to the pot, or by sticking a hand immersion blender in the pot and briefly pureeing for less than a minute. Ladle into soup bowls and serve warm or freeze in individual portions for another day.

And finally, here’s the cornbread recipe. I could just eat the whole pan right out of the oven. I heat one greased iron skillet in the oven while it’s preheating and use another iron skillet to prepare the cornbread in. Cornbread batter poured into an already hot iron skillet has the perfectly crunchy crust.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Long time, no post…I know. I wax experiencing technical difficulties. I think I have it figured out now.

Today, I have two Crock Pots going using the recipe below. I have a tenderloin in one and chops in the other. One is for us and one is to share.

Here’s the recipe:

FYI: I LOVE my Crock-Pot Slow Cookers!

3-4 pounds pork tenderloin

1⁄2 medium onion thinly sliced

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2-3 cloves garlic

1⁄4 cup soy sauce

3⁄4 teaspoon ground ginger

1⁄4 cup white wine

1⁄4 cup honey

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1⁄4 cup water

Pour water into bottom of slow cooker. Place tenderloin in cooker; lay sliced onions on top. Mix together remaining ingredients in bowl and pour over meat. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.
To be served tonight with mashed potatoes, sautéed zucchini and yellow squash, and yeast rolls.
The house is smelling good!
I also got my sheets washed and out on the clothesline this morning. I love the smell of freshly air-dried sheets! ❤️ Unfortunately, they didn’t get completely dry before the thunder started, but hopefully they were out there long enough to get the good smell!

And right now, I’m doing some front porch sittin’ while it’s not quite as hot as it has been this week.

(Pardon those knees!)

But my time is about up because I’ve got to get the rest of supper cooked so it can be delivered.

I took an hour or so this afternoon to work on my meal plan for the coming week (Saturday – Friday), making use of what I have on hand as much as possible. My pantry and freezer are pretty full!

For breakfasts next week, I’ll be making the Pioneer Woman’s Breakfast Burritos; 100 Days of Real Food’s Breakfast Casserole Bites; and a batch of Amazing Muffin Cups. These are easy to make ahead and then just pop in the microwave or toaster oven to reheat in the morning. Alternating between those will be Peanut Butter & Banana, Peaches & Cream Oatmeal, and PB&J smoothies.

Lunches generally consist of leftovers and I’ll make a batch of some kind of soup (this week it’s Chicken Tortilla along with some Cheese & Chile Corn Muffins) that I can heat up as needed.

We’ll see how much prep work I get done tomorrow. Hopefully, I can make the pie crust for the quiche and the pizza crusts for Friday since those freeze well. I’ll get the breakfast items made and my lunch soup of the week. I’ll post pictures and recipes as I make them.

Friday: I’ll be out of town for the weekend so Hubby is being left with leftover French dip sandwiches fixings, homemade chicken salad and sourdough bread to get him through Sunday. Can’t let him go hungry while I’m relaxing at the beach, now can we? 🙂

Place onion in a 5 – 7 quart slow cooker. Stir together oil, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Rub mixture over steaks and place on onions in the slow cooker. Add broth, cover and cook on low 8 hours. cut steak across the grain into thin slices (reserve half steak for another meal) Serve remaining steak with onions and gravy from slow cooker.

Good morning!
This is going in the Crock-Pot Slow Cooker this morning…my daughter’s favorite and her choice for today. Will serve with a side of green beans and some biscuits with herbed butter. It’s going to smell good in here when I walk I from work this afternoon. 🙂
Herbed Chicken & Vegetables
Ingredients
1 1⁄2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
1⁄4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
1⁄4 cup olive oil or other oil for frying
1 cup white cooking wine or chicken broth
1 can chicken broth
8 medium carrots cut into chunks
1 medium onion cut into chunks
5 medium potatoes cut into chunks (or small red potatoes)
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon cold water
Directions
Mix together the flour and all the spices; coat chicken breasts in flour mixture. Heat oil in a nonstick Dutch oven (or skillet if you’re going to use the slow cooker) over medium high heat. Cook chicken in oil about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown on all sides; remove chicken and drain on paper towel.
Stir wine, chicken broth, and vegetables into Dutch oven; add chicken. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 35-40 minutes or until juice of chicken runs clear (is no longer pink). (However, the longer it cooks, the better and more tender it is.) Remove chicken and vegetables and keep warm.**
Mix cornstarch with cold water; whisk into liquid in Dutch oven. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Serve over chicken and vegetables.
**Optional: Place chicken in slow cooker; cover with vegetables and pour wine and chicken broth over the top. Cook on low 6-8 hours. This is my preference. I then just add the cornstarch/water mix about 15 minutes before time to serve and it will usually thicken up just fine. 🙂

Remove and discard all visible fat from roast and place in slow cooker. Combine all other ingredients and pour over roast. Add water to almost cover roast. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours or until meat is very tender. (I usually sprinkle the roast with some meat tenderizer.)